Lórien Bar, Palma de Mallorca

Lórien Cerveseria / Llongueteria, founded in 1990, is a beer bar worth finding. It is situated at 5-A, Carrer de les Caputxines, near the centre of Palma, the capital of Majorca.

The name of the street is derived from the Caputxines Church and Convent founded by three Sisters in 1668.

If you approach Lórien bar from one of the narrow streets leading off La Rambla then you will pass the church and if the inset door is open an opportunity to see inside the church which should not be missed.

Lórien opened at 7pm on a Monday in September, the day of our arrival in Palma. We reached the entrance a few minutes early when the painted shutters were still down. We had time for a quick look inside another nearby chuch - San Nicolás - before returning to Lórien and finding it open.

We were almost the first customers to arrive and were able to chat to Pep and ask him about beers from Mallorca.

Pep kindly gave us a copy of the brochure for the Mostra de cervesa Artesana, recently held at Mancor de la Vall, near Inca, Majorca, on 14 September 2013.

He described some of the breweries and beers featured, several of which are stocked at Lórien. He allowed us to take his photo behind the bar, wearing a Barcelona beer festival t-shirt and with a copy of Ullage, the newsletter of West Berkshire CAMRA.

Pep fetched his selection of Mallorcan beers from the fridge and placed them on the bar. Now it was time to order a beer! I chose the Galilea brewed by Cas Cerveser and M chose the Blat brewed by Beer Lovers (Companyia Cervesera del Nord de Mallorca S.L. - Alcudia). 

 We took our beers to a table by the beer blackboard in the front area of the bar. The decor includes 'wooden beer crate' style bar frontage, celtic style designs paintd on plain paintwork, high shelves of beer bottles, framed pictures and a large mirror.

A delivery, during our visit, turned out to be a case of Red Ale from Sa Bona Birra a microbrewery based in Ciutadella de Menorca, another Balearic island.

This was another of the beers that Pep had encountered at the beef festival in Mancor de la Vall and Pep would later add details to the blackboard which features new beers that are not included in the printed beer menu sheets.

The beer menu is in Spanish and Catalan. It starts with an illustrated colour scale used y the European Beer Convention ranging from EBC 6 (Moritz lager) to EBC 130 (Guinness stout). The beers are divided into beer styles and listed with details of country, colour, bitternes (IBU scale), alcoholic strength, bottle size and prize. Prices range from 2.70 euro for a 33cl bottle of Moritz (Catalonian lager) to 12.00 euro for a 75cl bottle of Chimay Grand Reserve (Belgium). The draft beers are Hoegaarden (33cl / 2.65 euro); Guinness (25cl / 2.60 euro); Murphy's (25cl / 2.60 euro) and a 'Cervesa Artesanal' which changes regularly.

On our visit, the guest draught beer was 'Catapulte' an IPA collaboration between Zulogaarden
(Catalonia) and Benelux, a brewpub in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

 

Note that beers and prices mentioned above are subject to change.
We left and promised Pep that we would be back to try different beers on another day.

Two days later we were back with a friend. Although the bar was busier on this occasion we were able to sit at 'our' table. On this occasion, M had draught Hoegaarden, C had Galilea and I chose a Moritz Epidor from the Lager Bock section of the menu. When in Barcelona I had enjoyed Moritz Lager Pilsner so this was a good opportunity to try their stronger (7.2% ABV) beer. There was even time for me to have a 25cl glass of Catapulte from the draught font before leaving. Two strong beers to start the evening might explain why my navigating meant that it took us longer than expected to find our way to nearby Plaça d'en Coll!

sauep.com (Lorien website with links to twitter and facebook etc)
C/ de Les Caputxines, 5-a
07003 Ciutat (Palma) - Mallorca
Tel. 971 723 202
Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday from 7pm  +  11am - 3pm on Tuesdays & Saturdays.
N.B. Payment by cash.